Investor Presentaiton
MVO
NEDERLAND
farm, crop rotation, use of fertilisers and pest control can create
major benefits for the farmer, including saving on production costs.34
3) Climate resilience. By working with a comprehensive soil approach,
more soil life, more coverage and different plants holding more water
and nitrogen in the soil, coffee plants become less vulnerable to drought
and dramatic shifts in temperature.
True pricing
A potential follow-up angle for connecting coffee companies as well as fruit
importers with sustainable production in Minas Gerais is the trend of true
pricing.
The coffee sector was introduced to the concept of making the true cost of coffee
production visible through collaboration with producers and buyers and
making use of tools that are being developed. The true cost of coffee production
in Brazil will show what is the negative social and environmental impact
expressed in a price component. This information can help producers to work
on sustainable production efforts as well as to explain to partners that the price
of their coffee is in no way based on the real costs of production including living
income, let alone on the possibility to invest in sustainable production methods
to bring down the negative impact and true costs of production.
It is in our view highly recommended to explore how Brazilian producers can
get started with true cost calculations for small and medium scale production
together with their Dutch partners. This can prove to be a vital element of
communicating about more diverse coffee, sustainable production, the benefits
of small and medium scale production and a call for higher prices for green
coffee.
Explore the opportunities for mixed farming or agroforestry
Apart from nature reservation, the Forest Code of 2012 provides a good
opportunity to develop the business case of agroforestry. The Forest Code
allows (to a certain extent) for the commercial use of the obligatory 20, 30 or
80% of legal reserve, if native vegetation remains intact. In other words, it is
possible to produce within this area, as long as the requirements of nature
conservation are met. Agroforestry can help to achieve this.
Coffee is a shade crop by nature
Originally found in forests of central Ethiopia, Arabica is naturally a shade
crop, with trees growing up to 5 metres. This coffee from the Kaffa region is
still grown as it was centuries ago, and this offers some sustainability
advantages. However, in the case of Ethiopia, the insufficient quality and
availability of this coffee make it an inferior option for buyers. It is worth
investigating what examples exist in Brazil of companies experimenting with
growing coffee within the legal reserves, and what the potential business case
for this coffee is. It is furthermore worth exploring which coffee companies are
interested to act on the demand side of this potentially highly sustainable
coffee.
Support women in coffee
Supporting female entrepreneurship and female empowerment is a
component of Dutch foreign trade policy. The Brazilian coffee sector offers the
Dutch government and private sector opportunities to work more with female
producers. For example, the Brazilian chapter of the International Women's
Coffee Alliance (IWCA) is quite strong and can be a useful contact for match-
making, research and cooperation. They have a special label for their
members, indicating that the coffee is produced by women, which could be
interesting for Dutch buyers looking to bring more differentiated coffee to the
market. The Dutch government can assist with linking producers and buyers,
and spot opportunities for cooperation on female entrepreneurship (e.g.
workshops).
Next steps
The economic network in Brazil will organise a joint mission of coffee buyers,
Dutch soil specialists and biological pest control companies jointly with a CSR
specialist, to visit quality coffee producers of two specialty coffee areas of Minas
Gerais: Sul de Minas and Matas de Minas. The joint effort would consist of
helping farmers improve the sustainability of the specialty coffees produced in
34 Eco system services to biological control of pests:
https://nev.nl/pages/publicaties/proceedings/nummers/17/103-111.pdf
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